The color scheme is now based around Christmas colors and now shows off the custom loop I finally finished.

Some purple and orange. The orange is actually via the Evolv X case lighting while the purple is connected via one of the addressable headers on the Maximus XI Code. A second addressable header controls the LED strip up top.

The final build in its first day with water cooling. Those air bubbles have finally all disappeared.

The cable management covers are a nice touch. Just be careful as the tabs that secure the doors break real easily. It's worth noting you can remove these doors completely if you're really proud of your cable management.

LED strip above the cable management area

Front panel lighting. Effects are really neat with this part of the case.

For those who wonder about the light output from the Phanteks Digital Halos Lux from the opposite side of the fan.

The finished product with the initial color scheme I had chosen. Note that I was still using an AIO at this stage. This was while I waited for all the water cooling parts to arrive.

The build with the AIO at first boot. Yes, things were still messy, but I knew this build wasn't done yet so it didn't matter at the time.

The core of this build, the 8700k that I ended up delidding.

The GPU that made this a realistic idea.

The Strix 1080 Ti GPU block I chose. I kept it simple intentionally.

The parts, excluding the CPU block and reservoir, at this stage of the build.

My first water-cooled build

This build incorporated my first foray into custom water cooling. I was originally going to go with a 9900k as the CPU, but ultimately stock issues and the extravagant price kept me from going that ambitious, but it's still a gaming powerhouse with an 8700k overclocked to 5ghz and a GTX 1080 Ti that's also overclocked. It was meant to be used as a pure gaming machine while my previous build was relegated to an encoding/rendering machine for video production.

Build Updates

Gathering of the parts

The water cooling

The Strix 1080 Ti GPU block I chose. I kept it simple intentionally.

The parts, excluding the CPU block and reservoir, at this stage of the build.

Assembling the build

The cable management covers are a nice touch. Just be careful as the tabs that secure the doors break real easily. It's worth noting you can remove these doors completely if you're really proud of your cable management.

The build with the AIO at first boot. Yes, things were still messy, but I knew this build wasn't done yet so it didn't matter at the time.

Water cooling and final tweaks

LED strip above the cable management area

Front panel lighting. Effects are really neat with this part of the case.

The final build in its first day with water cooling. Those air bubbles have finally all disappeared.

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